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Science 28 August 1998:
Vol. 281. no. 5381, pp. 1340 - 1342
DOI: 10.1126/science.281.5381.1340
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Reports

Three-Dimensional Deformation Measured in an Alaskan Glacier

Joel T. Harper, Neil F. Humphrey, W. Tad Pfeffer

Measurements of movement along 28 boreholes reveal the three-dimensional flow field in a 6 million cubic meter reach of Worthington Glacier, a temperate valley glacier located in Alaska. Sliding at the bed accounted for 60 to 70 percent of the glacier's surface motion. Strain rates in the ice were low from the surface to a depth of about 120 meters, but then increased rapidly toward the bed. Ice deformation was not affected by temporal changes in the sliding rate. The three-dimensional pattern of motion indicates that plane strain, which is often assumed by models, is a poor approximation of this viscous flow.

J. T. Harper and N. F. Humphrey, Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82071, USA. W. T. Pfeffer, Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA.

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
The nature and origin of asymmetric arrays of shear surfaces in fault zones.
S. F. Wojtal (2001)
Geological Society, London, Special Publications 186, 171-193
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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)